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Zahira
Zahira is, on the surface, a heavily-damaged magical book possessed of rare intelligence and personality, able to telepathically communicate to those that hold her. Often calling herself Zara, she appears to be a resource of incalculable worth: a seemingly-complete manual of necromantic spells, creatures, rituals and artifacts. Her cover is bound in blackened leather, as though it was badly burned and yet remained undamaged, and is emblazoned with a particular seven-pointed sigil intimately familiar to those learned in the culture of ancient Valparaiso. Her pages appear to be made of skin and the coded words upon them are written in a neat handwriting; Zara can highlight these passages and parts of diagrams to emphasize her speech, but efforts to translate her contents without her assistance are fruitless. She is a well-spoken, calm individual who appreciates good manners, and is helpful to those interested in her knowledge without ever seeming patronizing. It seems that she can only be heard by those who possess an artifact created from the instructions in her pages. The truth of her identity is that she is one of the seven ruling Magelords, who avoided death and went into deep hiding in order to survive the wars that destroyed the nation. Previously a lich, she had her mind and soul bound within a book with the help of her servants, particularly the head researcher Avazeen. As a book, she lost her own physical agency but was able to remain cleverly hidden from those who would see the most powerful necromancer in the world, a maniacal despot, destroyed. Divided into three parts to further obfuscate her location, Zahira was scattered across the continent and eventually forgotten. Her plan was simple: each of her parts would inevitably seek out the others. Even divided, she had the power to subtly corrupt and enslave the minds of those who would use her power, making them highly amenable to her suggestions; recombined, she would have enough strength to obliterate the very soul of a host and take it over completely, giving her as many disposable bodies as she could ever need to last and rule through the ages. Recombination Millennia passed and the pieces of Zahira moved about in obscurity, never managing to reach each other, part through chance and part through design. Prior to the eventual reformation of Zahira, one third was discovered by Nisa Redfern who was willful enough to resist Zahira's cloying offers; knowing full-well the book's identity, she placed it in her collection of Valparisan artifacts, waiting to come across the other thirds so that she could help the Magelord retake her seat of power using a host other than herself. Another third was discovered by Luna Estaban in the basement of the Misgivings where its last owner, Vorel Foxglove, had attempted and failed to use the knowledge within to become a lich. Zahira implored Luna to take her from the cavern, to which she agreed. Luna carried the book about with her for months, confiding in her and taking advantage of her depths of knowledge, mainly to find ways to help Aldern Foxglove. The pieces held by Nisa and Luna were recombined when the two passed near each other by chance, with the amalgam ending up in Luna's possession to the mild frustration of Nisa. The bolder, more complete Zahira began to have a much more visible effect on Luna, whose personality and priorities shifted dramatically to match the whims of the book. This deeply concerned her friends who eventually enacted a plan to separate her from the controlling book. Using the power of the Runeforge, they managed to severely damage the two-thirds of Zahira that Luna had possessed, as well as sever her from her host. Though they abandoned the book before actually destroying it, fearing for their lives at the hands of Avazeen and their other foes within the forge, they dealt lasting, irreparable damage to the Magelord. Category:Character